Cleaning apparatus and method of object detection sensor

ABSTRACT

A cleaning apparatus of an object detection sensor including: an environment information acquisition unit configured to acquire surrounding environment information of a vehicle; and a cleaning unit configured to create a cleaning solution mixture based on the surrounding environment information acquired by the environment information acquisition unit, and clean a cover installed on the object detection sensor to protect the object detection sensor from foreign matter by spraying the created cleaning solution mixture onto the cover, in order to prevent a reduction in sensing performance of the object detection sensor due to contamination by the foreign matter. The object detection sensor may sense a target object by transmitting a scan signal to the target object and receiving a sensing signal reflected from the target object, and the scan signal and the sensing signal may be transmitted and received through the cover.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/408,996, filed on May 10, 20219, and claims priority from and thebenefit of Korean Application No. 10-2018-0055644, filed on May 15,2018, which is herby incorporated by reference for all purposes as ifset forth herein.

BACKGROUND Field

Exemplary embodiments relate to a cleaning apparatus and method of anobject detection sensor, and more particularly, to a cleaning apparatusand method of an object detection sensor, which can prevent a reductionin sensing performance of a sensor for detecting a target object.

Discussion of the Background

An autonomous vehicle refers to a vehicle which autonomously decides adrive path by recognizing the surrounding environment through an outsideinformation sensing and processing function during driving, andindependently drives using it own power. Although a driver does notoperate a steering wheel, an acceleration pedal, a brake or the like,the autonomous vehicle can travel to the destination by itself whilepreventing a collision with an obstacle existing on the drive path andadjusting the vehicle speed and driving direction depending on the shapeof a road. For example, the autonomous vehicle may perform accelerationon a straight road, and perform deceleration on a curved road whilechanging the driving direction in response to the curvature of the road.

A driver assistance system which is currently applied to a vehicle isconfigured as an individual system or includes a small number of systemsto which a single sensor is applied. However, in order to implement ahigh-level autonomous driving system in the future, a high-precisionsensor is expected to be applied. The need to apply a LiDAR (LightDetection And Ranging Sensor) with high distance resolution as a sensorfor satisfying such a demand is increasing.

In general, a sensor such as the LiDAR, which is applied to a vehicle tosense an outside object, may be mounted on a front bumper of thevehicle, and the sensing performance of the sensor may be significantlydegraded when the sensor is mounted in glass or a vehicle body. Thus,the sensor is generally mounted so as to be extended to the outside, andhas a separate cover for protecting the sensor from foreign matter.

Since the LiDAR senses an object through a method oftransmitting/receiving light, the object sensing performance of theLiDAR is very sensitive to contamination of the cover for protecting theLiDAR from foreign matter. Thus, the LiDAR requires an apparatus capableof effectively preventing contamination of the cover by foreign matter.

The above information disclosed in this Background section is only forenhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and,therefore, it may contain information that does not constitute priorart.

SUMMARY

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed to acleaning apparatus and method of an object detection sensor, which canclean a cover installed on the object detection sensor such as a LiDARin consideration of the surrounding environment of a vehicle, therebyeffectively block contamination of the cover by foreign matter andpreventing a reduction in sensing performance of the object detectionsensor.

In one embodiment, a cleaning apparatus of an object detection sensormay include: an environment information acquisition unit configured toacquire surrounding environment information of a vehicle; and a cleaningunit configured to create a cleaning solution mixture based on thesurrounding environment information acquired by the environmentinformation acquisition unit, and clean a cover installed on the objectdetection sensor to protect the object detection sensor from foreignmatter by spraying the created cleaning solution mixture onto the cover,in order to prevent a reduction in sensing performance of the objectdetection sensor due to contamination by the foreign matter. The objectdetection sensor may sense a target object by transmitting a scan signalto the target object and receiving a sensing signal reflected from thetarget object, and the scan signal and the sensing signal may betransmitted and received through the cover.

The cleaning unit may create the cleaning solution mixture by mixing avolatile cleaning solution and a nonvolatile cleaning solution.

The surrounding environment information may include the content oforganic matter in the atmosphere, and the cleaning unit may create thecleaning solution mixture by adjusting the mixing ratio of the volatilecleaning solution to the nonvolatile cleaning solution based on thecontent of organic matter in the atmosphere.

The cleaning unit may create the cleaning solution mixture by increasingthe ratio of the volatile cleaning solution as the content of organicmatter in the atmosphere increases.

When the content of organic matter in the atmosphere is equal to or morethan a preset reference content, the cleaning unit may create thecleaning solution mixture by increasing the ratio of the volatilecleaning solution with respect to a preset reference mixing ratio.

The surrounding environment information may include outside temperature.When the outside temperature is equal to or more than preset referencetemperature, the cleaning unit may create the cleaning solution mixtureby adding an organic coating agent to a mixture of the volatile cleaningsolution and the nonvolatile cleaning solution.

The object detection sensor may include a LiDAR, and the environmentinformation acquisition unit may include a navigation terminal.

In another embodiment, a cleaning method of an object detection sensormay include: acquiring, by an environment information acquisition unit,surrounding environment information of a vehicle; creating, by acleaning unit, a cleaning solution mixture based on the surroundingenvironment information acquired by the environment informationacquisition unit; and cleaning, by the cleaning unit, a cover installedon the object detection sensor to protect the object detection sensorfrom foreign matter by spraying the created cleaning solution mixtureonto the cover, in order to prevent a reduction in sensing performanceof the object detection sensor due to contamination by the foreignmatter. The object detection sensor may sense a target object bytransmitting a scan signal to the target object and receiving a sensingsignal reflected from the target object, and the scan signal and thesensing signal may be transmitted and received through the cover.

In the creating of the cleaning solution mixture, the cleaning unit maycreate the cleaning solution mixture by mixing a volatile cleaningsolution and a nonvolatile cleaning solution.

The surrounding environment information may include the content oforganic matter in the atmosphere. In the creating of the cleaningsolution mixture, the cleaning unit may create the cleaning solutionmixture by adjusting the mixing ratio of the volatile cleaning solutionto the nonvolatile cleaning solution based on the content of organicmatter in the atmosphere.

In the creating of the cleaning solution mixture, the cleaning unit maycreate the cleaning solution mixture by increasing the ratio of thevolatile cleaning solution as the content of organic matter in theatmosphere increases.

In the creating of the cleaning solution mixture, when the content oforganic matter in the atmosphere is equal to or more than a presetreference content, the cleaning unit may create the cleaning solutionmixture by increasing the ratio of the volatile cleaning solution withrespect to a preset reference mixing ratio.

The surrounding environment information may include outside temperature.In the creating of the cleaning solution mixture, when the outsidetemperature is equal to or more than preset reference temperature, thecleaning unit may create the cleaning solution mixture by adding anorganic coating agent to a mixture of the volatile cleaning solution andthe nonvolatile cleaning solution.

The cleaning method may further include determining, by the cleaningunit, whether a remaining amount of the volatile cleaning solution and aremaining amount of the nonvolatile cleaning solution are equal to ormore than a preset reference amount. The acquiring of the surroundingenvironment information, the creating of the cleaning solution mixtureand the cleaning of the cover may be performed only when both of theremaining amount of the volatile cleaning solution and the remainingamount of the nonvolatile cleaning solution are equal to or more thanthe reference amount.

The cleaning method may further include informing a user that one ormore of the volatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaningsolution need to be supplied, when it is determined that the one or moreof the remaining amount of the volatile cleaning solution and theremaining amount of the nonvolatile cleaning solution are less than thereference amount.

In accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, thecleaning apparatus and method can differently create the cleaningsolution for cleaning the cover installed on the object detectionsensor, depending on the surrounding environment of the vehicle, andclean the cover using the cleaning solution, thereby effectivelyblocking contamination of the cover by foreign matter and securing thesensing performance of the object detection sensor which is optimized tothe surrounding environment of the vehicle.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for describing a cleaning apparatus of anobject detection sensor in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts for describing a cleaning method of anobject detection sensor in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

The invention is described more fully hereinafter with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown.This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms andshould not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure isthorough, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to thoseskilled in the art.

Hereafter, a cleaning apparatus and method of an object detection sensorin accordance with embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Itshould be noted that the drawings are not to precise scale and may beexaggerated in thickness of lines or sizes of components for descriptiveconvenience and clarity only. Furthermore, the terms as used herein aredefined by taking functions of the invention into account and can bechanged according to the custom or intention of users or operators.Therefore, definition of the terms should be made according to theoverall disclosures set forth herein.

As customary in the field, some exemplary embodiments are described andillustrated in the accompanying drawings in terms of functional blocks,units, and/or modules. Those skilled in the art will appreciate thatthese blocks, units, and/or modules are physically implemented byelectronic (or optical) circuits, such as logic circuits, discretecomponents, microprocessors, hard-wired circuits, memory elements,wiring connections, and the like, which may be formed usingsemiconductor-based fabrication techniques or other manufacturingtechnologies. In the case of the blocks, units, and/or modules beingimplemented by microprocessors or other similar hardware, they may beprogrammed and controlled using software (e.g., microcode) to performvarious functions discussed herein and may optionally be driven byfirmware and/or software. It is also contemplated that each block, unit,and/or module may be implemented by dedicated hardware, or as acombination of dedicated hardware to perform some functions and aprocessor (e.g., one or more programmed microprocessors and associatedcircuitry) to perform other functions. Also, each block, unit, and/ormodule of some exemplary embodiments may be physically separated intotwo or more interacting and discrete blocks, units, and/or moduleswithout departing from the scope of the inventive concepts. Further, theblocks, units, and/or modules of some exemplary embodiments may bephysically combined into more complex blocks, units, and/or moduleswithout departing from the scope of the inventive concepts.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for describing a cleaning apparatus of anobject detection sensor in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the cleaning apparatus of the object detectionsensor in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention mayinclude an environment information acquisition unit 200 and a cleaningunit 300. The cleaning unit 300 may include a cleaning controller 310, acleaning solution container 320, a mixer 330 and a spraying nozzle 340.

First, the object detection sensor 100 which is the target of a cleaningoperation in the present embodiment will be described as follow. Theobject detection sensor 100 may sense a target object by transmitting ascan signal to the target object and receiving a sensing signalreflected from the target object. The scan signal may be defined as asignal which the object detection sensor 100 transmits to sense thetarget object, and the sensing signal may be defined as a signal whichis returned to the object detection sensor 100 after the scan signal hasbeen reflected from the target object. In the present embodiment, it isdescribed that the object detection sensor 100 is applied to the frontbumper of a vehicle, for convenience of description. However, thepresent invention is not limited thereto, but the object detectionsensor 100 in accordance with the present embodiment may be applied toall kinds of systems which can sense an outside object through atransmitted signal and a received signal.

In the present embodiment, the object detection sensor 100 may include aLiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging Sensor). Thus, the object detectionsensor 100 may include a laser diode, a mirror unit and a receiver unit.The laser diode may emit a scan signal. The mirror unit may adjust thescan angle of the object detection sensor 100 while the rotation anglethereof is adjusted by an actuator such as a motor, and transmit thescan signal emitted from the laser diode to the outside by reflectingthe scan signal. The receiver unit may receive a sensing signal. Throughthe above-described configuration, the object detection sensor 100 maysense a target object by transmitting a laser point (i.e. scan signal)to the target object and measuring the time required until a sensingsignal is reflected from the target object and returned to the objectdetection sensor 100 and the intensity of the sensing signal. That is,the object detection sensor 100 may detect the distance from the vehicleto the target object and the shape of the target object.

The object detection sensor 100 may include a cover 110 for protectingthe object detection sensor 100 from foreign matter. The cover 110 maybe positioned in the direction that the scan signal is transmitted fromthe object detection sensor 100 or the sensing signal is received by theobject detection sensor 100, and house the laser diode, the mirror unitand the receiver unit therein. The cover 110 may be formed in variousshapes depending on the shape of the object detection sensor 100 (forexample, plane shape, curved shape and the like).

Since the scan signal transmitted from the object detection sensor 100and the sensing signal received by the object detection sensor 100penetrate the cover 110, the object sensing performance of the objectdetection sensor 100 is very sensitive to contamination of the cover110.

Therefore, the cleaning apparatus of the object detection sensor inaccordance with the present embodiment may employ the cleaning unit 300to block the sensor cover from being contaminated by foreign matter,thereby preventing a reduction in sensing performance of the objectdetection sensor 100.

The environment information acquisition unit 200 may acquire surroundingenvironment information of the vehicle and transfer the acquiredinformation to the cleaning unit 300. The surrounding environmentinformation acquired by the environment information acquisition unit 200may include one or more of the content of organic matter in theatmosphere and the outside temperature, the content of organic matterindicating an air pollution level. The surrounding environmentinformation may further include the current weather situation and theregion where the vehicle is driving.

In order to acquire such surrounding environment information, theenvironment information acquisition unit 200 may include a navigationterminal which is typically mounted in a vehicle to show a drive path toa user. Thus, the navigation terminal may acquire the surroundingenvironment information of the vehicle through a method of determiningthe region where the vehicle is driving, using GPS (Global PositioningSystem) information, and receiving the outside temperature and thecontent of organic matter in the atmosphere in the region where thevehicle is driving, from an external server (for example, weatherserver).

The cleaning unit 300 may create a cleaning solution mixture based onthe surrounding environment information acquired by the environmentinformation acquisition unit 200, and clean the cover 110 by sprayingthe created cleaning solution mixture onto the cover 110, therebypreventing a reduction in sensing performance of the object detectionsensor 100 due to contamination by foreign matter. For this operation,as illustrated in FIG. 1 , the cleaning unit 300 may include a cleaningcontroller 310, a cleaning solution container 320, a mixer 330 and aspraying nozzle 340.

The cleaning solution container 320 may serve to contain a volatilecleaning solution and a nonvolatile cleaning solution which are to bemixed by the mixer 330, in order to create the cleaning solution mixtureto be sprayed onto the cover 110. That is, the cleaning controller 310may create the cleaning solution mixture by mixing the volatile cleaningsolution and the nonvolatile cleaning solution through the mixer 330.Thus, the cleaning solution container 320 may be divided into a volatilecleaning solution container (not illustrated) for containing thevolatile cleaning solution and a nonvolatile cleaning solution container(not illustrated) for containing the nonvolatile cleaning solution.Furthermore, as described below, the cleaning controller 310 may createthe cleaning solution mixture by adding an organic coating agent to amixture of the volatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaningsolution. For this operation, the cleaning solution container 320 mayinclude an organic coating agent container (not illustrated) which isformed separately from the volatile cleaning solution container and thenonvolatile cleaning solution container, in order to contain the organiccoating agent.

The mixer 330 may serve to mix the volatile cleaning solution and thenonvolatile cleaning solution under control of the cleaning controller310. That is, the mixer 330 may receive the volatile cleaning solutionand the nonvolatile cleaning solution from the volatile cleaningsolution container and the nonvolatile cleaning solution container,respectively, and mix the volatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatilecleaning solution. The volatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatilecleaning solution may be mixed through various methods. For example, thevolatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaning solution may bemixed through a rotating arm, a derivative mixture or a foam generator,and the present invention is not limited to a specific mixing method.

The spraying nozzle 340 may serve to spray the cleaning solution mixtureformed by the mixer 330 onto the cover 110 under control of the cleaningcontroller 310.

The cleaning controller 310 may create the cleaning solution mixturebased on the surrounding environment information acquired by theenvironment information acquisition unit 200, and clean the cover 110 byspraying the created cleaning solution mixture onto the cover 110. Forthis operation, the cleaning controller 310 may be configured as acleaning ECU (Electronic Control Unit) for controlling the mixer 330 andthe spraying nozzle 340.

The cleaning controller 310 may create the cleaning solution mixture bymixing the volatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaningsolution through the mixer 330. That is, the volatile cleaning solution(for example, isopropyl alcohol) exhibits an excellent drying ability,but relatively lacks a cleaning ability, and the nonvolatile cleaningsolution (for example, monoethyl ether acetate) exhibits an excellentcleaning ability, but relatively lacks a drying ability. Therefore, thecleaning controller 310 may compensate for the disadvantages of therespective cleaning solutions by mixing the volatile cleaning solutionand the nonvolatile cleaning solution, thereby more effectively cleaningthe cover 110.

At this time, the cleaning controller 310 may create the cleaningsolution mixture by adjusting the mixing ratio of the volatile cleaningsolution to the nonvolatile cleaning solution based on the content oforganic matter in the atmosphere, which is included in the surroundingenvironment information. That is, the cleaning controller 310 maycompensate for the disadvantages of the respective cleaning solutions bymixing the volatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaningsolution, and create the cleaning solution mixture which is more activeto the surrounding environment of the vehicle, by adjusting the mixingratio of the respective cleaning solutions based on the content oforganic matter in the atmosphere, which makes it possible to maximizethe cleaning ability for the cover 110.

Through the method of adjusting the mixing ratio of the volatilecleaning solution to the nonvolatile cleaning solution based on thecontent of organic matter in the atmosphere, the cleaning controller 310may create the cleaning solution mixture by increasing the ratio of thevolatile cleaning solution as the content of organic matter in theatmosphere increases.

That is, the cleaning ability of the volatile cleaning solution such asisopropyl alcohol with respect to organic matter is more excellent thanthat of the nonvolatile cleaning solution. Therefore, as the content oforganic matter in the atmosphere increases, the cleaning controller 310may create the cleaning solution mixture by increasing the ratio of thevolatile cleaning solution, in order to effectively remove the organicmatter adsorbed on the surface of the cover 110.

As another method of adjusting the mixing ratio of the volatile cleaningsolution to the nonvolatile cleaning solution based on the content oforganic matter in the atmosphere, the cleaning controller 310 may createthe cleaning solution mixture by increasing the ratio of the volatilecleaning solution with respect to a preset reference mixing ratio, whenthe content of organic matter in the atmosphere is equal to or more thana preset reference content.

That is, when the content of organic matter in the atmosphere is lessthan the reference content, general contaminants need to be cleanedprior to the organic matter adsorbed on the surface of the cover 110.Here, the reference content may be properly designed in consideration ofthe amount of organic matter which may cause a performance reduction ofthe object detection sensor 100. Therefore, the cleaning controller 310may create the cleaning solution mixture by mixing the volatile cleaningsolution and the nonvolatile cleaning solution based on the presetreference mixing ratio, until the content of organic matter in theatmosphere reaches the reference content. Here, the reference mixingratio may be properly designed in consideration of a trade-off relationbetween the cleaning ability and the drying ability of each of thecleaning solutions.

On the other hand, when the content of organic matter in the atmosphereexceeds the reference content, the organic matter adsorbed on thesurface of the cover 110 need to be preferentially removed. Therefore,the cleaning controller 310 may create the cleaning solution mixture byincreasing the ratio of the volatile cleaning solution with respect tothe reference mixing ratio.

As described above, the surrounding environment information acquired bythe environment information acquisition unit 200 may include outsidetemperature. Thus, when the outside temperature is equal to or more thanthe preset reference temperature, the cleaning controller 310 may createthe cleaning solution mixture by adding an organic coating agent to themixture of the volatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaningsolution in order to prevent deterioration of the cover 110.

The cleaning controller 310 may determine whether a remaining amount ofthe volatile cleaning solution and a remaining amount of the nonvolatilecleaning solution are equal to or more than a preset reference amount,before the cleaning operation in accordance with the present embodimentis performed or the environment information acquisition unit 200acquires driving environment information. At this time, the cleaningcontroller 310 may determine the remaining amount of the cleaningsolution through various methods, for example, a method using aremaining cleaning solution sensor. Only when both of the remainingamount of the volatile cleaning solution and the remaining amount of thenonvolatile cleaning solution are equal to or more than the referenceamount, the cleaning controller 310 may perform the cleaning operationin accordance with the present embodiment. When one or more of theremaining amount of the volatile cleaning solution and the remainingamount of the nonvolatile cleaning solution are less than the referenceamount, the cleaning controller 310 may inform a user that one or moreof the volatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaning solutionneed to be supplied, through a display device (for example, an LCDinstalled in a cluster unit).

FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts for describing a cleaning method of theobject detection sensor in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the cleaning method of the object detection sensorin accordance with the embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed as follows. First, the cleaning unit 300 may determine whethera remaining amount of the volatile cleaning solution and a remainingamount of the nonvolatile cleaning solution are equal to or more thanthe preset reference amount, at step S100. In other words, the cleaningunit 300 may determine whether both of the remaining amount of thevolatile cleaning solution and the remaining amount of the nonvolatilecleaning solution are equal to or more than the reference amount.

When it is determined at step S100 that both of the remaining amount ofthe volatile cleaning solution and the remaining amount of thenonvolatile cleaning solution are equal to or more than the referenceamount, the environment information acquisition unit 200 may acquire thesurrounding environment information of the vehicle at step S200. Thesurrounding environment information may include one or more of thecontent of organic matter in the atmosphere and the outside temperature.Furthermore, the surrounding environment information may include thecurrent weather situation and the region where the vehicle is driving.

Then, the cleaning unit 300 may create a cleaning solution mixture basedon the surrounding environment information acquired by the environmentinformation acquisition unit 200 at step S300.

At step S300, the cleaning unit 300 may create the cleaning solutionmixture by mixing the volatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatilecleaning solution. At this time, the cleaning unit 300 may create thecleaning solution mixture by adjusting the mixing ratio of the volatilecleaning solution to the nonvolatile cleaning solution based on thecontent of organic matter in the atmosphere. As a method of adjustingthe mixing ratio of the volatile cleaning solution to the nonvolatilecleaning solution based on the content of organic matter in theatmosphere, the cleaning unit 300 may create the cleaning solutionmixture by increasing the ratio of the volatile cleaning solution as thecontent of organic matter in the atmosphere increases. When the contentof organic matter in the atmosphere is equal to or more than the presetreference content, the cleaning unit 300 may create the cleaningsolution mixture by increasing the ratio of the volatile cleaningsolution with respect to the preset reference mixing ratio. Since thisprocess has been already described above, the detailed descriptionsthereof will be omitted herein.

Furthermore, at step S300, the cleaning unit 300 may create the cleaningsolution mixture by adding an organic coating agent to the mixture ofthe volatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaning solution,when the outside temperature is equal to or higher that the presetreference temperature.

Then, the cleaning unit 300 may clean the cover 110 by spraying thecleaning solution mixture created at step S300 onto the cover 110 atstep S400, thereby preventing a reduction in sensing performance of theobject detection sensor 100 due to contamination by foreign matter.

On the other hand, when it is determined at step S100 that one or moreof the remaining amount of the volatile cleaning solution and theremaining amount of the nonvolatile cleaning solution is less than thereference amount, the cleaning unit 300 may inform a user that one ormore of the volatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaningsolution need to be supplied, at step S500.

The above-described steps S100 to S500 may be performed in real timewhile the vehicle is driving, or periodically performed according to apreset cycle in consideration of the consumption of the volatilecleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaning solution.

A specific implementation of the cleaning method of the object detectionsensor in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention, whichhas been described above with reference to FIG. 2 , will be described indetail with reference to FIG. 3 , based on a time-series plot of stepS300.

Referring to FIG. 3 , the cleaning unit 300 may determine whether theremaining amount of the volatile cleaning solution and the remainingamount of the nonvolatile cleaning solution are equal to or more thanthe preset reference amount, at step S100. That is, the cleaning unit300 may determine whether both of the remaining amount of the volatilecleaning solution and the remaining amount of the nonvolatile cleaningsolution are equal to or more than the reference amount.

When it is determined at step S100 that both of the remaining amount ofthe volatile cleaning solution and the remaining amount of thenonvolatile cleaning solution are equal to or more than the referenceamount, the environment information acquisition unit 200 may acquire thesurrounding environment information of the vehicle at step S200.

Then, the cleaning unit 300 may determine whether the content of organicmatter in the atmosphere, included in the surrounding environmentinformation, is equal to or more than the reference content, at stepS310.

When it is determined at step S310 that the content of organic matter inthe atmosphere is less than the reference content, the cleaning unit 300may primarily create a cleaning solution mixture by mixing the volatilecleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaning solution based on thepreset reference mixing ratio, at step S320. Then, step S340 to bedescribed below may be performed.

On the other hand, when it is determined at step S310 that the contentof organic matter in the atmosphere is equal to or more than thereference content, the cleaning unit 300 may primarily create thecleaning solution mixture by increasing the ratio of the volatilecleaning solution with respect to the preset reference mixing ratio, atstep S330.

After step S320 or S330 is performed, the cleaning unit 300 maydetermine whether the outside temperature is equal to or more than thepreset reference temperature, at step S340.

When it is determined at step S340 that the outside temperature is equalto or more than the reference temperature, the cleaning unit 300 mayfinally create the cleaning solution mixture by adding an organiccoating agent to the cleaning solution mixture which was primarilycreated through step S320 or S330, that is, the mixture of the volatilecleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaning solution, at step S350.

When it is determined at step S340 that the outside temperature is lessthan the reference temperature, step S400 below may be performed withoutadding the organic coating agent.

Then, the cleaning unit 300 may clean the cover 110 by spraying thecleaning solution mixture created at step S300 onto the cover 110 atstep S400, thereby preventing a reduction in sensing performance of theobject detection senor due to contamination by foreign matter.

On the other hand, when it is determined at step S100 that one or moreof the remaining amount of the volatile cleaning solution and theremaining amount of the nonvolatile cleaning solution are less than thereference amount, the cleaning unit 300 may inform a user that one ormore of the volatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaningsolution need to be supplied, at step S500.

As such, the cleaning apparatus and method in accordance with theembodiments of the present invention can differently create the cleaningsolution for cleaning the cover installed on the object detectionsensor, depending on the surrounding environment of the vehicle, andclean the cover using the cleaning solution, thereby effectivelyblocking contamination of the cover by foreign matter and securing thesensing performance of the object detection sensor which is optimized tothe surrounding environment of the vehicle.

Although preferred embodiments of the invention have been disclosed forillustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate thatvarious modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the invention as defined in theaccompanying claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cleaning apparatus of an object detectionsensor mounted on a vehicle, comprising: an environment informationacquisition unit configured to utilize a navigation system to determinea region where the vehicle is driving and acquire surroundingenvironment information of the vehicle; and a cleaning unit configuredto create a cleaning solution mixture based on the surroundingenvironment information acquired by the environment informationacquisition unit, and to clean a cover installed on the object detectionsensor to protect the object detection sensor from foreign matter byspraying the cleaning solution mixture onto the cover, wherein: thecleaning unit is configured to create the cleaning solution mixture bymixing a volatile cleaning solution and a nonvolatile cleaning solution;the surrounding environment information comprises a content of organicmatter in an atmosphere of the surrounding environment; and the cleaningunit is configured to create the cleaning solution mixture by adjustinga mixing ratio of the volatile cleaning solution to the nonvolatilecleaning solution based on the content of organic matter in theatmosphere.
 2. The cleaning apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cleaningunit is configured to create the cleaning solution mixture by increasingthe mixing ratio of the volatile cleaning solution to the nonvolatilecleaning solution as the content of organic matter in the atmosphereincreases.
 3. The cleaning apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when thecontent of organic matter in the atmosphere is equal to or greater thana preset reference content, the cleaning unit is configured to createthe cleaning solution mixture by increasing the mixing ratio of thevolatile cleaning solution to the nonvolatile cleaning solutionaccording to a preset reference mixing ratio.
 4. The cleaning apparatusof claim 1, wherein: the surrounding environment information comprisesoutside temperature; and when the outside temperature is equal to orgreater than a preset reference temperature, the cleaning unit isconfigured to create the cleaning solution mixture by adding an organiccoating agent to a mixture of the volatile cleaning solution and thenonvolatile cleaning solution.
 5. The cleaning apparatus of claim 1,wherein the object detection sensor comprises a LiDAR (Light DetectionAnd Ranging Sensor), and the environment information acquisition unitcomprises a navigation terminal.
 6. The cleaning apparatus of claim 1,wherein the cleaning unit is further configured to determine whether aremaining amount of the volatile cleaning solution and a remainingamount of the nonvolatile cleaning solution are equal to or greater thana preset reference amount, and clean the cover when both of theremaining amount of the volatile cleaning solution and the remainingamount of the nonvolatile cleaning solution are equal to or greater thanthe reference amount.
 7. The cleaning apparatus of claim 6, wherein thecleaning unit is further configured to inform a user that one or more ofthe volatile cleaning solution and the nonvolatile cleaning solutionneed to be supplied when it is determined that the one or more of theremaining amount of the volatile cleaning solution and the remainingamount of the nonvolatile cleaning solution are less than the referenceamount.